Noah Webster House Director Leaves For River Museum

WEST HARTFORD — After nine years leading the Noah Webster House and the West Hartford Historical Society, Christopher Dobbs starts his new position as head of the Connecticut River Museum in Essex on Monday.

Dobbs, 42, has worked to breathe new life into the Noah Webster museum, guiding it through a fruitful capital campaign and subsequent renovations and creating new exhibits and programs to help renew public interest in the historic house.

"He's been fantastic," said Town Manager Ronald Van Winkle. "He's done a lot of things to connect [the Webster House] with the community. We will miss him."

Helen Rubino-Turco, director of human and leisure services for the town, agreed.

"He's dedicated, resourceful and so profoundly committed to his work that he's really shown great leadership skills," she said. "It seems like everything he touches, he just does it with integrity and passion.

"He's shepherded through some new programs and renovations at Noah Webster House that have brought renewed interest and invigorated people's connection to the … house. He's made it a living building," Rubino-Turco said. "People go in there, they eat, they drink, they're merry."

Programs started under Dobbs include "Tavern Nights," where revelers enjoy dinner, drinks, music and tavern games at the house; spooky tours of local cemeteries called "West Hartford Hauntings"; the annual "Webster's War of the Words" game show night, and many more.

Dobbs said his proudest accomplishments include the capital campaign, which ran from 2006 to 2008 and raised $1.2 million; the development of a forthcoming iPad application; and an award-winning exhibit on Bristow, a slave who bought his freedom from the Hooker family but remained close to them for the rest of his life.

The capital campaign's success allowed the organization to continue to grow when the recession hit, Dobbs said.

"I think when a lot of organizations went through a problematic period, the Noah Webster House had … a lot of opportunity to expand when others were battening down the hatches," he said.

The campaign raised 20 percent over its goal, which was put toward restoring the house, creating new exhibits, celebrating Webster's 250th birthday and "led to a series of West Hartford and statewide collaborations with other organizations," Dobbs said. "I think that certainly was one of my proudest moments here."

More recently, a series of grants, including $225,000 from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, have "allowed this organization to be even stronger," he said. "That's part of their whole series of initiatives to better sustain the organization and bring us fully into the 21st century."

Two draws of Dobbs' new gig are an eight-minute commute – Dobbs lives in Deep River – and working with his wife, Jennifer White-Dobbs, who is the river museum's director of education.

Moreover, "it's a great opportunity to go to the next level of museum," he said. "It's a bigger museum with a bigger operating budget."

The river museum has a "very different type of mission" than the Noah Webster House, he said. "I'm really looking forward to exploring new things and taking that in a new direction, like we did here."

But he'll miss his job in West Hartford, he said.

"I've really, really enjoyed it. That's the reason why I've stayed so long," Dobbs said. "I think the fact that we've grown the organization so much over the last 10 years is a tribute to how hard everyone has worked and the community support."

Mary Donahue, a member of the Noah Webster House and West Hartford Historical Society's board of trustees, will take over for Dobbs on an interim basis.